Of What Once Was
by Wolfhunter
Summary: Nobody is invincible and nobody stays the same. After the acts of a single person, Fate T. Harlaown must now save the person who had once saved her.  Chapter 1 Revised


Disclaimer: MGL Nanoha and all it's characters are owned by their respective companies. I claim no ownership of anything but what I wrote.

A/N: This takes place after the events of Ep. 09

* * *

The mission was supposed to be a simple one. Two areas of high drone activity were detected several miles to the North and East of headquarters. Since Vice-Captain Vita was currently away on a separate mission, it was determined that Stars team would head toward the region with the lesser amount of activity. It was a routine mission and nothing was supposed to happen.

We were wrong…

"Long Arch to Lightning One."

"Lightning One here." Fate activated the communications screen as she flew along with the rest of Lightning Squad. They had just finished with the mission and were on their way back when the communiqué came.

"Fate. You need to get back to headquarters post haste." Shari ordered. It was obvious that there was a lot of commotion going on behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Caro asked as she pushed her dragon to catch up with her captain.

"There was an… incident." Shari replied after a moment of hesitation. "Commander Yagami wants you back as soon as possible. We'll brief you once you return." The transmission then cut out.

"I hope nothing's wrong." Fate told herself as she turned toward Caro and Erio. "Come on. Let's go."

Wolfhunter Presents  
A Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS A/U Fanfiction

_Of What Once Was…_  
Chapter 1  
_Disappearance_

The scene Lightning Squad arrived upon was one of chaos. People everywhere were running around carrying reports and messages; the air filled with so much chatter that it was all bit incoherent.

"Hayate!." Fate called out as she arrived in the command center. "What's the situation?"

Hayate turned toward her friend with a worried look. "We've lost contact with Stars Squad and Vice-kun." She paused as she read over the report on the screen. "I've sent Search and Rescue but they haven't found them yet."

"What happened?" Fate asked as she tried to get a hang of the situation, worry filling her mind.

"When they arrived on site, they reported…" Hayate began but was cut off as another screen opened up in front of her.

"S&R to Long Arch. Come in."

"This is Long Arch, Commander Yagami speaking. Report."

"We're requesting an emergency teleport. We've found Sergeant Granscenic and Private Lanster. They're both in critical condition."

"Transport granted. Any sign of Captain Takamachi or Private Nakajima?"

The soldier hesitated for a moment. "We've been unable to find any sign of Captain Takamachi, but we were able to recover this." A broken wheel binding appeared on the screen. It was obvious that it was part of Subaru's Mach Calibar.

"That's…" Hayate began but trailed off fearing the worst. "Please continue your search. I'll be sending a few more men to help. Long Arch out."

It was at that point that Fate turned leave with a determined look on her face. "I'm going out to look for them."

"Don't!" Hayate yelled out as she got up and grabbed Fate's arm. "It was obviously a trap. It could have been meant for you."

"You don't think Scaglietti…" Fate trailed off not really wanting to think about it. "So, what do we do now?"

Hayate looked out toward the busy staff, "Until we find out more, the only thing we can do is wait."

* * *

Several tense hours had passed without any new information before the science division had recovered data from Teana's Cross Mirage.

"From what we could tell from the data in Teana's device," Shari started as she brought up several screen "Stars team had successfully managed to defeat the gadget drones in the area before a strong Anti-Magic barrier was brought up and they encountered a mage using a device of unknown origin."

Several screens appeared with shots of a blue clad female with golden eyes holding onto a cannon which was a bit larger lengthwise than the possessor was tall.

The most notable was the Roman numeral X.

"We believe this person shot down Sergeant Vice before engaging the Stars Squad." Shari continued and brought two more screens. One showed a girl who looked no older than 11 and a much smaller girl which seemed similar to Reinforce Zwei. "One additional mage along with, what we believe to be, a unison device appeared some time during the battle before Cross Mirage shut down."

"From this evidence and what Search and Rescue discovered we can only assume that they have either managed to escape and unable to contact us or..." Shari trailed off as she looked toward Hayate and Fate.

"...Or they've been captured." Fate concluded.

"There is no way Nanoha would allow herself or her team to become captured." Vita, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke. The news had been particularly hard on her as she had blamed herself for not being there.

Fate nodded in agreement as she turned toward the viewing screens, her eyes filling with determination. "We have to go out and find them."

"Ummm... Something doesn't make sense." Elio put in as he looked at the screens. "Their target was us wasn't it?" Getting a tentative nod, he continued "If that's true, why was Teana left behind? I don't think Nanoha-san would have left anyone behind with an active enemy in the area."

"That," Hayate turned toward Elio, "we don't know for sure. For now, we have to find out who we are dealing with and find anything that might lead us to recover Nanoha-san and Subaru-san. I want everyone to rest up. We're going to need to be as ready as possible should we hear from Nanoha. Dismissed."

The support staff were the first to leave followed by Caro and Elio, leaving Fate alone with Hayate.

"How's Teana?" Fate spoke after a few moments of silence.

"Shamal says she'll recover, but doesn't expect her to be ready for any kind of combat for quite awhile." Hayate replied as she sat tiredly in one of the chairs. "Fate. I know you're worried about Nanoha. We all are. I'm going to need you to keep a level head. I'm sure Nanoha will be fine in the mean time."

"I know, but I can't help but worry."

After a bit more silence, Hayate nodded to herself and got up. "Fate." She began then waited for the Lightning mage to turn to her. "Get some rest. I'll be sure to find her and you'll be the first to know."

Fate paused to consider this before fatigue washed over her. Nodding, she left Hayate alone to contemplate.

* * *

Elsewhere, the man known as Jail Scaglietti grinned. It wasn't everyday a plan turned out as well as it did. Admiring the still form of a blue haired girl floating in the bio chamber for a moment, he turned toward his second acquisition.

"Takamachi Nanoha." Jailed said to no one in particular, "You don't know how long I've been looking forward to getting hold of someone like you." If possible, his grin grew even bigger. "An S ranked mage. Yes, my dear girl, you'll do very well."

On a console sitting in front of the chamber, a small red gem, sitting on some kind of device, pulsed twice before fading. Next to it sitting on another device a small ornate golden star set in a circle glowed briefly before it too faded.

A/N: I've not completely abandoned this story; it's just taking awhile for me to hammer down the plot.


End file.
